The Greatest Gift of All
by Angela Kinetic
Summary: The once oneshot now a fic. Good things come to those who wait, and sometimes to those who are oblivious.
1. Christmas

A/N: This is my Christmas, holiday present to everyone out there! Especially Lady Sirinal.

Gabriel and Anna Van Helsing and Carl walk out of the theater; they had just seen the play The Nutcracker. Gabriel and Anna were cuddled close together; Carl was walking out in front of the two, well more like bouncing around like a small child. Gabriel held Anna tight and shielded her from the cold air as they waited for the arrival of their carriage; he smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. She smiled back up at him and gazed deep into his green eyes, full of undying love for her and he, did the same, finding the same, undying love. They looked on in amusement as the small, completely inflexible friar attempted to Russian dance from the play and promptly fell into a tree causing a great amount of snow to fall on top of him. Gabriel shrugged pulled Anna into another kiss.

The sound of hooves on cobblestone brought the two lovebirds back into reality. Two absolutely beautiful black and brown horses drew their carriage back to Valerious Manor. Their driver tipped his hat and smiled at the two and shook his head at the small friar, half covered in snow, as they made a quick switch of drivers. The inside of the carriage was warm and covered in a soft fabric, almost like velvet, Gabriel and Anna settled in on one side, cuddled together. Gabriel began to play with Anna's thick chocolate brown hair and smiled down at his princess and she snuggled into him. He embraced her in a warm and loving hug, wrapping his coat around her, effectively keeping the chill from her. Soon her breathing slowed and she drifted off into sleep. Gabriel held onto, keeping her safe as the carriage bumped and bounced along, and, soon, even he fell into a deep sleep.

A soft and light snow fell down around Valerious Manor just as the carriage pulled up to the front of it. Carl, almost a Popsicle and very tired, hopped down from the driver's seat and opened the door to the interior of the warm carriage and smiled. There, inside, his two best friends in the whole of the world lay, sleeping, so peacefully that one would think them angels. He slowly reached into the carriage and shook Gabriel awake, the hunter grumbled a bit but realized were he was and if he continued to grumble, who he would wake. He looked down at her, she looked so peaceful and angelic sleeping, he didn't have the heart to wake her. Gabriel picked Anna up and slid carefully out of the carriage and began to walk up to the mansion. A little later he set Anna into her bed and brushed some stray hair out of her face. He sighed and watched her sleep.

Gabriel walked onto the balcony, with great stealth, careful not to make a sound, he hand one hand clamped firmly behind his back. There, on the balcony, watching the stars was his beloved, in a silky red nightdress; black flowers dotted it here and there. His breath caught in his throat, she was so beautiful. He crept up and slid a hand around her slim waist and held open his palm in the other hand, held in two fingers was mistletoe; he gave a playful smile and kissed her. She deepened the kiss and they moved indoors.

A small friar moved up the steps to the door of their room.

"Van Helsing, I was hoping to caught you before you went to bed" he pushed open the door and froze, his face turning red. He had walked in on them.

"Caaarl!" Gabriel growled. Several pillows came flying at him as he shut the door quickly and scurried off down the hall, clearly embarrassed.

The morning light was just touching on the Manor's outer walls a 15 days later. Inside fires crackled warmly and tinsel and decorations hung all around; in the foyer was a large tree decorated with every type of Christmas decoration imaginable, tinsel, beads and brightly colored balls and one of Carl's newest toys; candles that burned different colors incased in thing glass lamps, like a lantern. It was Christmas Eve and gifts were set out to be opened the following day. Gabriel sat in the kitchen, a cup of hot coffee sitting in front of him, a warm fire behind him, keeping his and Anna's breakfast warm. He took in a deep breath of the stuff and sighed, sitting back in his chair. He yawned and looked to the door and smiled when his wife came in, she looked pale and tired. Gabriel got up and walked over to her.

"Anna, are you alright?" He said, concern in his voice. She looked up at him dazed.

"Gabriel I'm pregnant."

A/N: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and most of all, I hope you enjoyed it!


	2. September 24th

September 24th-

A very nervous Gabriel Van Helsing paced the stone floor just outside of his wife's room. His hands where clasped firmly behind his back and worry written all over his face, which still held that oh so familiar stubble. Green eyes filled with both love and concern for the events taking place in the very next room. A scream came from within and he winced, for today, Anna was giving birth. Carl, scurried past and threw open the door, tottering on one foot before disappearing with a bowl of water and reappearing moments later, white as a sheet with a slight green tinge. He all but collapsed in a chair near one of the torches.

"How is she?" Gabriel asked, quickly not giving the friar time to recover his normal pallor.

"G-Gabriel, she is doing fine." Carl said, waving a hand at his long time friend.

"How can she be, Carl, she is screaming in pain!"

"That is how this works!"

"Oh." He mumbled and went back to his pacing.

For a moment Carl watched Gabriel, and his friend's actions reminded him slightly of a caged animal, a very nervous caged animal.

"Calm down, Gabriel. Have a seat, this will be a while."

"And how would you, _friar _Carl, know?"

"I read."

Gabriel shook his head, having paused for a moment to raise an eyebrow at Carl. Deciding it was best to listen to his friend he sat on the bench against the wall opposite Carl and rubbed his temples. He stayed like this for who knows how long, but suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder; startled he looked up to see one of the nurses smiling down at him.

"Mr. Van Helsing, congratulations, they are beautiful." She said gently and turned from Gabriel who was stunned.

He stood and he seemed to miss the next step in walking, you all know, the moving part.

_Did she just say 'they'!_

Suddenly remember the next step he rushed to Anna's side, she was holding two bundles of cloth. She looked up at him with smiling eyes.

"Gabriel, meet your son and daughter."

He took one bundle, which held a green eyed chocolate haired girl he smiled even wider, and tears began to form. The child seemed to focus on him.

"Hello, I'm your father."

Carl had came in behind Gabriel and he handed the bundle off to the friar who was slightly surprised to suddenly be holding the smallest form of human life he'd ever seen.

Gabriel was now holding a brown haired blue-eyed boy, and he could no longer hold the tears in and they fell down his face, these tears of happiness beyond all measures. Happiness for something he'd always wondered if he had, something he'd always wanted, a family.

A/N: Hey! On the 26th there will be the very last chapter of this part of the story and the beginning of the next.


	3. Old Endings and New Beginings

December 25th-

There was no more special moment in Gabriel Van Helsing's life than that very crisp snow covered morn. The very morn when his loving wife woke him up with their two beautiful children, Annette and Kale, resting just feet away from their bed in the crib he, himself, had made. Brushing a few locks of hair from his face he grinned, wide and child like, for this was a very special morning, it was the children's first Christmas; the monster hunter all but leapt from the warm covers and into the cool stone floor. Sweeping a robe on he scooped up Annette, who was always the first to wake, into his arms and spun her around.

"Merry Christmas, little one!" He held her close and rocked her gently, as she smiled up at her father. "This is a very special holiday, we celebrate a very special man's birth and-" He tapped his daughter's nose lightly with an added smile. "Santa gives presents, to all the good little children of the world!" He stood with his daughter in his arms for a moment longer, watching Anna take Kale from the crib and cradle him gently, singing him an old and lively Transylvanian song.

He smiled again and joined his wife's side as they headed to the library where they had set the tree up just weeks before hand; it had been a job actually getting the tree up the steps, several suits of armor, paintings and a few tables had to be moved to avoid being totaled by the large pine.

_Nothing. _ He thought contentedly. _Could possibly be wrong on this glorious day of days. _

Meanwhile, in the village, the small friar and new Godfather, Carl was finishing some shopping for the kitchen cook, who had insisted on staying and helping with Christmas dinner. He was weighted down with a large bird and a bag full of vegetables, slowly trudging his way past the old inn and bar where he had met the lovely bar maid on that fateful night; though he'd seen hide nor hair of her since then, it was rumored that she had gotten pregnant and left to have her child in peace, no one knew who the father was.

The skies had a friendly overcast to them, one that signaled a good Christmas snow was to happen. He hurried his pace, not wanting to get caught in it, no matter how light, Transylvanian snows where known to have a nasty edge to them that could take the bite out of a werewolf. Quickly entering the manner he was surprised to see Anna standing at the door waiting for him, on her face was an odd look, something the friar could not place.

'There is someone here to see you, Carl, she's in the kitchen." That was all she said, but a small smile played over her face as she turned her back.

A little weary to his friend's liking for a good practical joke, he carefully headed in, wondering if by some chance, Van Helsing, had gotten Anna to go along with one of them. He poked his head into the kitchen to see the one servant who stayed handing a cup of hot tea, to a blonde haired lady before turning and picking up a sandy haired, blue eyed child of about a year in age.

Gabriel Van Helsing turned the corner to see Carl standing and lightly pushed him into the kitchen with a smile.

"Carl, I'd like to reintroduce you to Marilyn."

"Reintroduce, I don't think I've ever-" He stopped upon seeing her face and he blushed deeply, near purple, as did Marilyn.

"Carl…meet your son, Jacob." She said timidly.

"I-I-I-I-I-Son?" Carl squeaked out.

Van Helsing clapped his hand on the, now extremely pale friar's shoulder and grinned.

"Congratulations, you're a father."

"But I can't do that, I'm a monk!" He sputtered out.

"Actually, you're still only a friar." Gabriel said.

There was a loud thud as Carl hit the floor in a dead faint and Marilyn looked at him, in concern.

"Will he be ok?"

"No worries, deary, he does that quite a bit." The servant said, as Van Helsing scooped him up, rolling his eyes.

"Your _brave_ father." She sighed looking to Jacob.

A/N: And that is the end of that! The very end of the first part of this little fic and the beginning to the next; I plan to work on this around Christmas every year since this is a fiction centered around that time of the year. Thanksgiving through New Years is when everything will be put up. I hope you like it! BTW I do not own anything in relation to Van Helsing, except the standard Dracula figure and mmmmaaaayyyyybbbbeeee a coat.


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